A Goodbye Swim & Walk down Memory Lane with the Tew Triplets!

If you’ve followed our blog for any time, you’ve probably heard about our MANY adventures with the Tew triplets! Angela and I met through our local Moms of Multiples group when our kiddos were just babies. After a fun five years, sadly our Tew friends said goodbye and left Texas for the beautiful beaches of Florida. So sad to see them go but so glad their Mama is spending her days on the beach where she has always longed to be! The Tews came over for one last get together before they left. Thanks to the many blood, sweat and tears of my husband, father-in-law and uncles, we have a new pool and spacious deck to enjoy with our friends and family!

Brody, Korbin, Everett, Kylee, Emerson, brother Britton, Emmett & Baxlyn

 

 

 I am so SO incredibly sad to see these sweet kiddos’ mama go. Angela has been a crutch to lean on during the day’s of motherhood I don’t think I’ll survive, she’s been there for late night phone calls and texts of pure frustration if not to lend some good advice, to let me know I am at least not alone. Raising high order multiples is SUCH a challenge not just any mother can understand and she and I have been through thick and thin. Whether figuring out how to shove 9 choo choo cars and 7 babies on the world’s smallest elevator, working together to change 7 diapers in the middle of the Dallas zoo because they bathrooms were too small, trying to keep clothes on toddlers who insist on being naked, potty training, dealing with hurtful comments from strangers in public or prepping for KINDERGARTEN much of the reason we are where we are today is because of the bond we have as mothers. Together we have conquered some amazing tasks and have learned so much in the process. Angela, thank you so so much for your friendship. No amount of miles can keep us from being friends and don’t think for once that those beautiful waters in Florida will keep me from seeing you ;)

A look back at some of our fun times together with the Tew family…

Chuck E Cheese. That big, scary mouse never saw us coming ;)

One of our mannny trips to the zoo. Ahh the easy days of the choo choo wagons!

Their first egg hunt. Angela got the job of quickly searching for safe treats and distributing them to the 14 little hands grabbing at her…

Here is the picture of our elevator adventure. Two moms with 7 two year olds and a 4 year old. We had to get to the second floor and this was the only way. We managed to get all of the wagons and myself in this TINY elevator on one trip while Angela stayed down with the 8 non-contained kids and waited until the elevator returned. FUN TIMES!

Another sweet moment from one of our zoo trips. Her boys all had a thing for Kylee <3 

 

You can imagine we caused a scene every where we went. This was one of the worst. We used to feed all the babies in their wagons (picture two moms hunched over, waddling from one baby to the next with spoonfuls of applesauce and bananas). While prepping their lunch we look up to see this crowd with cameras in hand snapping pics left and right. A tad bit upset, you can see I didn’t hesitate to whip my camera at and take pictures of them. While we’re on the subject, it’s very disrespectful to take pictures of other people’s children, ESPECIALLY without asking.

Riding in the March of Dimes Dallas Parade. Helping raise awareness for preemies like themselves!

A snack at the Dallas Arboretum!

 Their first sleepover/week! The trio camped out at our house while their parents enjoyed a special getaway! We were just barely moved into our new house and I was 6 months pregnant but we all survived with lots of giggles!

It’s always a huge deal when the place you’re at has enough high chairs for you and your friends!

Chris and Angela, we love you and will miss you and your crazy crew! See you soon, our tan lil’ Florida friends!

Not quite the adventure I planned...

 I believe the last words I left you with were something like "stay tuned for one crazy adventure".

 

Little did I know that would be a HUGE understatement.

 

If you've followed us for a while now, you've likely heard of our triplet friends Emerson, Everett & Emmett. Some of you remember our bravery last year when we offered to keep the trio for 4 days so their parents could get away. Well, we've planned for a while now to have them stay over again...this time for a week. Are we crazy? Maybe. But if anyone knows how badly parents of multiples need a break, it's Bret and I. We've been fortunate to have others help us out along our journey, so we like to pay it forward when we can.

 

I'm a planner, I have quadruplets myself. I know what it's like to depend on adrenaline and rely on it to get through challenging times. Been there, done that. I'd been gearing up for a few weeks now. Schedules, snacks, crafts, games, sleeping arrangements, meals...etc. were planned. A good balance of play/naps/entertainment and if we were lucky, a little outdoor play. If I can stay ahead of the game, stay prepared and stick with our general plan, we're good.

 

Little did I know, God had other plans. Last week we (North Texas) had beautiful weather that reached into the 80s by Wednesday. Unfortunately, mother nature took a turn for the worse and we were hit with an arctic blast Thursday afternoon. Thursday night/early Friday morning our electricity went out, the smoke alarms beeped, babies cried...bla bla. No big deal, right? The power will stay out a few hours, "they" will fix it and we'll be up and running by dawn. We woke up that morning to find we still didn't have power and that the ground and EVERYTHING outside was covered in THICK ice. Boo. The triplets were scheduled to arrive late Friday afternoon. Although I was a bit worried about their drive to our house, I still "knew" the power would be on at any time. Nope.

 

Once our little friends showed up, the sun was setting, we still didn't have power, we were freezing cold and were depending on about 25 tiny battery operated tea lights, a couple of small child size lanterns and a few flashlights to see anything. Luckily Papaw (next door) has a small propane heater in his living room that could offer us some warmth...as you can imagine he was ecstatic to welcome seven 4 year olds and a one year old into his home for the night ;) One by one we walked err, skated the kiddos across the property next door. With the kids bundled in jackets and hats, it was all we could do to know who was who. We gave them each a tea light to hold and that was our way of keeping track of how many kids we had. I sat in disbelief at our situation, just praying the power would kick on at any time. Yup, never happened. The 10 of us camped out in Papaw's living room for the night. Despite 2 of the quads coughing their butts off all night, Baxlyn grinding her teeth every 5 minutes and a Blade who woke up to party for an hour at around 2am, we slept great - feel my sarcasm?! Really though, we were MUCH warmer next door and I'm so grateful that we were welcomed!

 

Granny Linda snapped a picture during the night of part of our set up. Hard to see, but under each blanket you'll find a four year old...

 

 Saturday morning we were at a loss as to what to do. It ended up being the coldest December day in 15 years in Texas and the low (here) dropped to 17 degrees - HOLY COLD! The electric company gave us no hope that we would have power anytime soon as thousands of people were without it and we were basically at the bottom of the totem pole due to our location. My sister, mom and brother in law who live 15ish miles away had electricity and plenty of room for us and urged us to come to their house with all the kids. The only thing standing between us and them were some seriously icy roads. It was a tough call but we ultimately decided to venture out knowing that their house would be a much better environment for the kids. With the help of my fantabulous brother in law and father in law and their 4 wheel drive vehicles and tow ropes, Bret was able to get our 9 passenger van de-iced and out of the driveway. Altogether the process took a good hour, but we finally made it off of our iced over country road. Luckily the main roads had been plowed/sanded and we made it to their house slowly, but safely.

 

Our set up at Aunt Beth's house... thankfully Bret and I had our own room and Blade had his while the living room was transformed into the land of four year olds...

 

A few flashcards on Uncle Darrell's Tablet (so great to have a brother in law who works for Dell! Never mind the kid with a finger up the nose...)

 

Some train play...

 It's been QUITE a situation around here, but I am SO thankful we have such a great family to welcome us and all of our kiddos with open arms! We've done pretty well given our impromptu situation and have come up with things to do to keep the kids busy. From baking cookies, to crafts to movies and dance parties, we've done it all in the past 36 hours. Tonight (Sunday) we are finally told that our power has been restored - thank goodness! It's been great here at the family's house, but it will be nice to get back to our kid-friendly house and to give our family a well deserved break! Because temps have dropped below freezing for the night we are waiting until tomorrow afternoon to head out. Well keep you updated as the week goes on!

 

Cox Quads & Tew Triplets take over Chuck E Cheese!

The weather has been beautiful here lately but getting out of the house with 4 3 year olds while being 7+ months pregnant is quite the challenge. Typically this weather is enjoyed at the zoo but physically, there’s just no way right now. Angela and I opted to take our large crew to Chuck E Cheese. We picked the perfect time and our kids practically had the entire place to themselves!

L-R Kylee, Baxlyn, Korbin, Brody, Emmett, Emerson & Everett

The kids all had a great time! It was all Angela and I could do to keep up with their “money, money, money” requests (asking for tokens). ONE by ONE we went through 150 tokens (a coupon deal) between all 7 kiddos. With each token we would remind them to actually attempt to PLAY the game they put their coin in, rather than walk away from it, and to not forget to grab their tickets, if they won any.

Miss B and her signature face lately…just about every picture, this is what she chooses to do which drives this germ-a-phobic mama crazy at a place like Chuck E Cheese….yuck!

Kylee Mae & Barney

Kylee has a MAJOR fear of characters…Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Santa, The Easter Bunny and Chuck E Cheese is no exception. On our last trip to Chuck E Cheese she happened to be up in the jungle gym tunnel things when Chuck E Cheese himself came out to wave and see the kids. She saw him from above, FREAKED OUT, couldn’t find her way down for several minutes…etc.  The entire experience has haunted her ever since – the girl has one sharp memory. She’s been talking about Chuck E Cheese for a few weeks now and about how she’s afraid but could hold my hand, but not touch him, but maybe wave at him and so on and so on. You can tell she’s still so terrified but wants to be brave SO bad! I was anxious to see how she handled the experience this time around.

As soon as we walked in and the babies were all safety stamped at the door they all took off and Angela and I stopped at the front to order their lunch. We were not there 3 minutes and here comes Kylee RUNNING for her life, so terrified she can’t even scream. To make matters worse she was on the opposite side of a row of booths blocking her from me and Chuck E Cheese is headed right in her direction! By the time I got to her she was bawling and literally trembling in my arms, poor girl! The rest of the day she kept a close eye out. She made sure she was in my lap and had her head dug into my shoulder each time “HE came out of his cage”. It’s been a few days now and she is still talking constantly about how she “freaked out, but maybe next time it will be ok…etc” LOL! Her fear makes me wonder how we are going to handle the whole Santa thing this year. I can just imagine telling them “Let’s leave cookies for Santa, Santa is coming to your house tonight while you are sleeping, he’s gonna snoop around your house, eat cookies and leave stuff!!” and having 3 excited and one going down with nightmares. Ugh, we’ll have to think that one through!

Korbin & Baxlyn riding the clock ride…

Brody & Korbin playing the Dog game. This one was a hit and one of the few they actually understood. It was so frustrating watching them put coin after coin into machines that they couldn’t even see into, much less play.

As Angela and I sat and watched we saw Emmett helping his bro, Everett attempt to get his shoe back on. At this age we’re really starting to see them care and try to look out for their siblings (when they’re not fighting, that is) and it’s so sweet to witness!

Baxlyn, slightly regretting her choice to ride the monster truck!

Much happier on the buzzy bee…

1 large pizza, 4 drinks, 150 tokens and who knows how many tickets later split between 7 kids…they each went home with their little crappy plastic ring and bug (which have all been either broken or lost by now) ;)

Another fun outing with some of our favorite triplet buddies, can’t wait to do it again!

4 Days - 7 Three Year Olds…We Survived!

As I mentioned on the previous post, we had a few visitors last week! Our triplet friends Emmett, Emerson & Everett came to spend 4 consecutive days with us while their parents got a MUCH needed getaway! That’s right… brand new house, mother of quadruplets and 6 months pregnant with another and I took on the challenge of adding triplet BOYS to our family. A little crazy or a friend who recognizes another MoM in need of a break…perhaps both?!?!

Everything we do at our house is done in large quantity so what’s adding 3 more, right? 3 more sippy cups to fill…

3 more plates at each meal…

3 more sets of clothing, 3 more diapers…

6 more little feet… and a few hundred more potty breaks. How hard could it be?!!?

To be honest I ran on adrenaline the entire time they were here. Much like when the quads first came home from NICU. My goal was to stay ahead of the game, organized and one step ahead of them. Meals, naps, baths and outings were all planned ahead of time which helped things run overall pretty smoothly. We set up our little friends in what will soon be the baby’s room and were good to go! Those of you not familiar with Kidco Peapods, click here!

One thing I was expecting but had no way to prepare for was the noise level I was about to endure. The 7 of them had a BLAST together and the house was constantly filled with shrieks of laughter and the sound of 14 little feet running up and down our new hardwood floors – talk about a stampede!! Despite the 105 degree TX heat, we spent a little time outside in the shade to help burn off some of that crazy energy. Here they’re looking up in the tree for the butterfly… a group pic is a group pic, even if from the back, right?!

Bret was home Thursday and Friday evening and a part of Saturday and of course, was a great help. There’s something about Dad’s and their ability to get the giggles going to no end. He spent lots of time rolling in the floor with them, flipping them upside-down and chasing them through the halls giving me a little break! Below, he’s reading them all a bedtime story on their first night. What you don’t see is me over in the corner on bended knee praying they would all sleep well that night…teehee! Really though, night time was my only true worry. This was EE&E’s first time to spend the night somewhere without their parents and I thought if they had any trouble at all it would be when the lights when out. Luckily we had NO issues and they all slept like rocks! The trio tends to get up a bit earlier than Brody, Baxlyn, Kylee & Korbin so that was a little different but after a good night’s sleep, I could manage!

A few more random pics from our septuplet adventure!

Friday morning Bethany and I loaded up the burb and van and took them all to the local library for a little story time. I take the quads pretty often but with the chaos of prepping for the move, we’ve missed the last couple of months. I told her something along the lines of “Oh, there’s usually only like a total of 10 kids there, it will be EASY!” Duh Heather… it’s summer time…my guess of 10 kids was a bit off…

We walked our herd in and quickly learned that the local fire truck was going to be coming. Exciting, yes, but also meant there was a total of 50 something kids. There sat this mom with her 2 kids, that mom and dad with their kid, another mom with her one kid and then you have Bethany and I with our 7 – completely outnumbered. When the librarians told us the firemen were going to pull out the hoses and allow the kids to play and get wet, Bethany and I opted against it and took our crew out front to look at the water. 7 soaked three year olds just didn’t sound like something we were up for that day!

Another evening of cooking out on the grill while the littles played with their building blocks. They all played so well together, I was surprised. What “fights” did break out were usually within the two sets of siblings.

My Kylee Flower <3

Emerson and HIS yellow blocks. It was very clear to me that the boys were used to separating toys and such into colors…today yellow was Emerson’s and you can see the bro behind him was “only to play with” pink ;)

Here we have Everett & Baxlyn. These two are so similar and have been since they were itty bitty. There personalities are so alike it’s crazy! They both enjoy sorting, organizing and having things done certain ways. At one point the two of them lined up the blocks, end to end, along the railing of the porch. At the end they had about 4inches of porch left and another block wouldn’t quite fit. I sat and watched as they both silently somewhat  panicked and contemplated how to solve the problem together. She would slide a few blocks down (leaving the small gap a few feet down from where it was) and he would try to add it there. When that didn’t work, they would slide some more and try again… it was hilarious! Eventually the two gave up and started stacking them on top of each other in a tower fashion!

Emerson, Everett & Emmett with 6 of the most beautiful blue eyes you’ll ever see!

One thing the quads LOVE to do lately is ride the four wheelers. We’ve got a little land here at the new house which allows for fun trips out in the woods on a regular basis. EE&E have lots of experience out on boats, but no ATV experience, Bret and I thought it would be fun to let them try. Here the boys waited and waited for the girls to come back, super excited and anxious for their turn!

Miss B and the triplets waiting for the quad boys to return…

When it came down to it, Everett was the only one brave enough to venture out while his brothers watched from the porch. He and Bret rode for a good 5-10mins and when they returned you could see Everett’s white teeth from a mile away – nothing but smiles as he enjoyed every second of his ride!

The gang after church on Sunday. What an adventure for their Sunday School teacher! I think the average age of our very small church that Sunday was 6 ;)

A little Toy Story before bed one night! Notice how Everett is snuggled up to Bret just like he’s at home, so sweet!

A little pool fun on the back deck. How cute are they? L-R Korbin, Brody, Emmett, Kylee, Emerson and (flirting) Everett & Baxlyn!

A bit of a small pool for 7 three year olds but they didn’t mind a bit!

A little tooth brushing party in the girls room!

EE&E have an older brother (age 5) and an older teenage sister, which I’m sure they’re not allowed into her stuff. They were beyond interested in all of our girls’ girly girl stuff. Kylee was happy to show them her jewelry (her new found love) stored in her vanity as well as her princess castle and accessories!

Emerson & Emmett. Non-stop laughter and fun I tell ya! Their Mama has said multiple times they are begging to come back since going back home!

Although this is sweet and all, we had to watch Miss B and these boys. We caught several little smooches going on over the 4 days! She had them wrapped around her little finger and by the end of the weekend they were calling her “Mommy” just as Korbin does…little girl and her ways  of making the boys her puppets!

Overall it was a great (but challenging) 4 days but I can honestly say it was nice to get back to “just quadruplets”! You can imagine the break this Mama needed after our 4 day in home adventure! My hat is off to all you Septuplet MoMs out there…all what… 3 of you?!